An analysis of 14 Indian cities on how
they fare when it comes to pollution and energy consumption from urban
commuting, places Kolkata as the top-performing megacity.

·Bhopal leads the list on the lowest
overall emissions. Delhi fares the worst on the two counts.

·The report titled ‘The Urban Commute
and How it Contributes to Pollution and Energy’, compiled by the Centre for
Science and Environment (CSE), was released in Kolkata.

·It is a well known fact that air
pollution was a national crisis and road transport was the sector showing the
highest increase in emission of greenhouse gases.

·Primary reason for it is explosive
motorization in the country. Initially, it took 60 years (1951-2008) for India
to cross the mark of 105 million registered vehicles. Thereafter, the same
number of vehicles was added in a mere six years (2009-15.

·The study took two approaches to rank
the cities — one based on overall emission and energy consumption and the other
on per person trip emissions and energy consumption.

·In terms of overall emissions and
energy consumption, Bhopal was followed by Vijayawada, Chandigarh, Lucknow,
Kochi and Jaipur.

·Kolkata, placed 7th overall, was
better than the other five megacities as well as metropolitan cities like Pune
and Ahmedabad.

·Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai fared
a little better than Delhi.

·According to the report, though
metropolitan cities scored better than megacities due to lower population,
lower travel volume and lower vehicle numbers, they were at risk due to a much
higher share of personal vehicle trips.

·Kolkata provides a resounding message
that despite population growth and rising travel demand, it is possible to
contain motorisation with a well established public transport culture, compact
city design, high street density and restricted availability of land for roads
and parking,” the report pointed out, comparing Kolkata to Hong Kong and cities
in Japan.

·The report also stated that Mumbai had
the highest GDP but a lower rate of motorisation compared with other
megacities, proving that income levels were not the only reason for deciding a
population’s dependence on automobiles.

·Meanwhile, Chennai was the first city
to adopt a non-motorised transport (NMT) policy in 2004 that aims to arrest the
decline of walking or cycling by creating a network of footpaths, bicycle
tracks and greenways, the report said.

Keywords - The Urban Commute and How
it Contributes to Pollution and Energy, Centre for Science and Environment
(CSE), motorization, Kolkata, Bhopal.

Society/Governance

Corruption and town planning

Why
in News?

People are dying in building collapses and fires because
corruption has eaten into town planning and grant of building permits across
the country, the Supreme Court said.

Referring to the recent fire which engulfed Crystal Tower in
Parel, Mumbai, the Court said thousands of buildings in Mumbai are unsafe and
innocent lives are lost in the mire of corruption.

The Court said many residential buildings were being used for
commercial purposes also.

The court was hearing the Delhi sealing case concerning illegal
constructions in the Capital.

Do you know?

Town planning was a State subject in the 7th Schedule
of the Constitution.

Keywords – town planning, corruption, supreme court, Mumbai.

Polity

Live-streaming
for ‘open courtroom’

Why
in News?

Live-streaming of Supreme Court
proceedings is a true representation of the “open courtroom” system where
courts are accessible to one and all, the apex court said.

The remark countered arguments that
live-streaming of court proceedings would be misused, and verbal comments made
by judges in the course of a hearing would be twisted and converted to “fake
news”.

To this Justice Chandrachud countered
that court proceedings are live-tweeted even now and there is no authentic
record of the hearing to prove a tweet wrong.

Keywords – live streaming, supreme
court proceedings.

Science and
Technology

ISRO
telemedicine nodes for soldiers in high-altitude areas

Why
in News?

The Integrated Defence Staff of the
Defence Ministry and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed a
memorandum of understanding to set up telemedicine nodes in critical places
across the country.

This is done in a major effort to
improve emergency medical support to soldiers posted in high-altitude areas,
especially Siachen.

ISRO will establish 53 more nodes in
the first phase over and above the existing 20, in various establishments of
the Army, Navy and Air Force across the country.

As part of this, in addition to a
functioning node on the Siachen glacier, four more nodes are being established
to enable medical consultation between soldiers deployed on the glacier and
medical echelons in the rear.

During winter months, many of the
remote posts are cut off for several months because of adverse terrain and
extreme weather, making emergency evacuation near impossible.

Communication through
satellite-enabled telemedicine nodes will be a paradigm shift in the delivery
of lifesaving health care till the weather clears up and movement is possible.

This joint initiative by ISRO and the
Armed Forces Medical Services will transform the reach of telemedicine to
soldiers, airmen and sailors in remote and isolated posts.

The government, however, zeroed in on
the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) as its offer was found to
be “more profitable”.

The government gave utmost priority
for mineral exploration in the State. In the process, the viability of
Chigargunta and Bisanatham gold block was extensively studied.

Keywords – gold blocks, Chigargunta,
Bisanatham, Chittor.

DRDO Missile Test Facility in Krishna

Why
in News?

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)
granted environmental clearance for setting up the Missile Test Launch Facility
by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in the heart of the
Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) in Krishna district.

The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) constituted by the MoEFCC has
reviewed the project and in principal granted the environmental clearance.

The DRDO has proposed to set up the missile test launch facility
in 154.4 hectares in the KWS by spending nearly ₹1,000 crore at
Gullalamoda village of Nagayalanka mandal.

The technical facility will come up in the 130.15 hectares while
test facility will be developed in the 6.07 hectares of the area.

Wildlife management

The National Board for Wildlife has earlier granted permission to
the DRDO, allowing diversion of the forest cover within the sanctuary for the
defence project on the East Coast of India.

Meanwhile, the DRDO requires to submit the Wildlife Management
Plan (WMP) to obtain the second stage clearance for the commencement of the
construction activity in the forest land, apart from guaranteeing the
conservation of the wildlife in the sanctuary.